By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (artist), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor)
The Story: New stuff pops up, but is this going to be a threat or an opportunity?
Five things:
1. Glad to see something intriguing happen! – I was really hard on the last issue of TWD. The last “big climax” a few issues back (the unsuccessful insurrection by the Arlington natives) was kind of a dud and then when we have a few issues of fumbling long-standing characters, I did start to wonder if this series had jumped the shark when Andrea started talking to Dale’s hat. So, it was nice to see TWD get back to a sense of mystery and exploration. We haven’t had that in a long time (since Rick’s gang came to Arlington) and exploration is an important part of this series. Just having a new scenario to exert some new forces on the equilibrium the characters are settling into is a great thing and can power the series through rough patches.
2. Interesting new scenario. – The new scenario is neat and kinda makes sense. So far, Rick’s gang has mostly been out in rural areas. Not a lot of people = not a lot of settlements. Now we’re in the Washington, DC area and it makes sense that there would be more pockets of survivors and that they’d start to interact like a big game of Sid Meier’s Civilization where you can achieve supremacy via diplomacy, economic prowess or military conquest. It sounds like Rick’s group was that “nation” in Civilization that was off in the corner doing its own thing, but will now be forced to find a way to deal with these other groups and who knows if their weaponry will be sufficient to be taken seriously. Just the sense of exploration makes me a little giddy even if a nay-sayer would say that this scenario is similar to the prison/Governor set-up from ~60 issues ago.
3. Shoosh! Carl’s getting his memories back… – Man, this is going to be rough. Poor kid and poor Rick. Can you imagine having to tell your kid that his “dream” of killing another child was no dream… That it really happened? And imagine telling him that it was the right thing to do because the other kid was a sick bastard. If Kirkman keeps handling Carl this way, it’ll be a powerful reminder of just what a screwed up childhood this world forces on the kids.
4. Fight was a little pointless. – Actually, it was a LOT pointless. While is was great to see Michonne back in action after being kinda forgotten for a number of issues (although the trade-off is that Andrea disappears in this issue), this scenario didn’t do much for me. Sure, it established that this new dude is a badass, ninja, martial arts dude. But, I kinda have to call BS on the way he darted away when Abraham was about to shoot him. I don’t care how many ninja moves you know….bullets are faster than people. There’s no dodging. And, it seemed like the fight went on for a few pages more than was necessary to establish this dude’s bona fides.
5. Adlard’s art is again kicking butt. – Adlard really did a nice job with all the fight sequences in this issue. A LOT of modern comic artists can’t draw a fight to save their lives because you can’t figure out how a character’s body flows from panel-to-panel (“How did he go from punching that dude in the back of the head to throwing a right knee to the solar plexus between these two panels?”). Adlard draws like he’s actually watched or competed in some combat sports and it is SOOOOO appreciated. Seriously…comic artists should be required to watch MMA. Not only that, all of the blows landed in this fight had power behind them. Adlard aces the art of showing the punches and kicks at their extremes: either wound up to punch OR following through after the punch….but never showing a snapshot in the middle of the punch. Bravo!
Conclusion: I hesitate to say this series completely has it’s mojo back because there are some shaky elements in this issue, but just giving the story a forward trajectory will cover up a LOT of shortcomings. There is so much of this world to explore, so let’s see some more of it!
Jumping on point?: If you don’t mind being a little confused, you could totally jump on here and figure it out. Of course, you’ll understand much better by starting at the beginning or at least backing up to around issue #85 or so.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
Follow Dean on Twitter.
Grade
Conclusion